Word.ws English Dictionary

perish the thought

perish the thought phrase: may the thought perish; said of an idea or suggestion that is deeply undesirable.

Phrase

perish the thought

  1. May the thought perish; said of an idea or suggestion that is deeply undesirable.
    • What! was he to lose his hold over these boys, and that because he was unable to cope with a boy much smaller and younger than himself? Perish the thought!1885, Horatio Alger, chapter 13, in Hector's Inheritance
    • According to industry gossips, Richard and Judy may soon go their separate ways. Not maritally; no, perish the thought.2007 June 22, Grace Dent, The Guardian, G2, p. 3

Origin of perish the thought

Equivalent to "[may] the thought perish", with the verb in the subjunctive mood followed by its subject.

Questions about perish the thought

What does perish the thought mean?
Perish the thought means may the thought perish; said of an idea or suggestion that is deeply undesirable.
What part of speech is perish the thought?
Perish the thought is a phrase.

Words near perish the thought in the dictionary

  1. periselenium
  2. periseptal
  3. perisex
  4. perisexual
  5. perish
  6. perish the thought
  7. Perish Trap
  8. perish'd
  9. perishabilities
  10. perishability
  11. perishable

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: perish the thought (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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